{"id":1070,"date":"2012-08-20T03:48:19","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T07:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2012-08-20T03:48:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T07:48:19","slug":"esalen-ponders-its-future-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/2012\/08\/20\/esalen-ponders-its-future-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Esalen ponders its future again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"esalen-baths.jpg\"<\/span>Every so often the Esalen Institute<\/a> spiritual retreat in Big Sur seems to go through an inner dialogue on its place in the world of New Agey practices and followers. The current conversation, as Esalen approaches its 50th anniversary, amounts to a debate on its future, the New York Times says<\/a>. A key voice in the story, former TV writer and current Esalen investor Michael Barry, is interviewed in a yurt, and there’s a Mayan shaman and a massage practitioner, so the story pretty much has everything the NYT loves in a story from California. Plus of course nudity. <\/p>\n

\nHidden along an extraordinarily scenic stretch of California\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coast, with only a small sign alerting drivers to its existence along Highway 1, Esalen helped bring once-alien concepts and practices, including personal growth, yoga and organic food, to the American mainstream while celebrating the oneness of mind and body in its workshops and clothing-optional hot springs.<\/p>\n

\nThese days, as the retreat prepares to observe its 50th anniversary next month, people are still making pilgrimages here, drawn by Esalen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s focus on healing, melding of traditions and mantra of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spiritual but not religious.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Guests and workers still perform emotional \u00e2\u20ac\u0153check-ins\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in group \u00e2\u20ac\u0153weather reports\u00e2\u20ac\u009d during their stays, which can extend from a weekend to months, depending, an Esalen spokesman said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153on how far down the rabbit hole you go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Esalen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leaders say they are tweaking the institute\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s balance between the personal and the social with an emphasis on the latter so they can present the next \u00e2\u20ac\u0153edge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to America.<\/p>\n

But others, including people formerly and currently associated with Esalen, say it is losing its relevance in a culture where New Age has become a clich\u00c3\u00a9. The retreat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s half-century anniversary has coincided with continuing protests over the layoff of longtime employees as part of a management restructuring. Staff members and others have gathered in circles of silence here; on the Internet, including on a site called Esaleaks<\/a>, other protesters have assailed Esalen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s management as corporate types bent on transforming the retreat into a boutique resort.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’m glad to see Esalen’s long tradition of allowing outsiders in to soak in the baths<\/a> from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. continues. Though it now costs $20 a person.<\/p>\n

Esalen photo of the ocean-front hot springs baths<\/em><\/p>\n

via LA Observed http:\/\/www.laobserved.com\/archive\/2012\/08\/esalen_ponders_its_future.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every so often the Esalen Institute spiritual retreat in Big Sur seems to go through an inner dialogue on its place in the world of New Agey practices and followers. The current conversation, as Esalen approaches its 50th anniversary, amounts to a debate on its future, the New York Times says. A key voice in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Esalen ponders its future again”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[6,202,203],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-reader","tag-ifttt","tag-kevin-roderick","tag-la-observed"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2skW4-hg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gabrielsnyder.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}